Reducing Panic Attacks Helps with Asthma Too

Investigators from the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, New Jersey evaluated two protocols for treating adults suffering from both asthma and panic disorder. The protocols included elements of Barlow's Panic Control Therapy (- a combination of relaxation & breathwork, cognitive restructuring and graded exposure for desensitization) and several asthma education programs, as well as modules designed to teach participants how to differentiate between asthma and panic symptoms, and how to apply specific home management strategies for each.

Fifty percent of subjects dropped out of a 14-session protocol by the eighth session; however, 83% of patients were retained in an eight-session protocol. Clinical results were mostly equivalent: significant decreases of over 50% in panic symptoms, clinically significant decreases in asthma symptoms, improvement in asthma quality of life, and maintenance of clinical stability in asthma.

Albuterol use decreased significantly in the 14-session protocol and at a borderline level I the 8-session protocol, while pulmonary function was maintained. A controlled evaluation of this procedure is warranted.